October 21, 2007: Japan is having a difficult time procuring a next generation fighter for its air force. Japan wants a top line air defense fighter to replace its F-15s, and tried to acquire the U.S. F-22. But the U.S. was reluctant to export the F-22 to Japan, mainly because poor Japanese security allowed foreign spies to steal a lot of U.S. military technology the Japanese had previously purchased. The Japanese then looked at the French Rafael, but concluded that aircraft too difficult to use. Dismissed out of hand were Russian fighters (largely because of territorial disputes between the two nations, and little respect for Russian high tech.) That leaves the Eurofighter Typhoon, which is being studied. The Japanese had also looked into building their own F-22 type aircraft, but backed off when they realized how expensive, and risky, that would be.